Wojcik Promotes Abdur-Rahim and Wallace

CHARLESTON, S.C. – College of Charleston men’s basketball head coach Doug Wojcik announced the promotion of two members of his coaching staff on Wednesday.

Assistant Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim (pronounced UH-mere ab-durr-RA-heem) has been elevated to Associate Head Coach and Director of Basketball Operations Joe Wallace has been promoted to Assistant Coach.

Prior to the 2012-13 campaign, Abdur-Rahim and Wallace joined Wojcik’s staff from Georgia Tech and Tulsa respectively. Both helped tip-off the Wojcik Era on a high note as the Cougars compiled a 24-11 overall record, a 14-4 regular-season mark in Southern Conference play and an appearance in the conference championship game, while earning a postseason berth to the College Basketball Invitational, defeating 2013 NIT champion and No. 21-ranked Baylor (63-59) and recording an impressive 11-2 mark away from TD Arena which tied for the second-most road wins in Division I this past season. CofC is projected as the Colonial Athletic Association favorite by ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi in 2014. The Cougars will officially join the CAA on July 1.

Abdur-Rahim previously served as director of player development under head coach Brian Gregory at Georgia Tech and was an assistant coach for five seasons at Murray State under Billy Kennedy, who is now at Texas A&M. As CofC’s recruiting coordinator, Abdur-Rahim helped sign a four-member freshman class comprised of two players from Orlando, one player from Atlanta and one player from Memphis, for the 2013-14 season.

“Amir has been everything that I thought he would be,” Wojcik said. “He was highly-recommended a year ago, I knew he would be a great fit. After a year’s time, Amir has been an active recruiter and has an unbelievable feel for our players. He has everything you want and are looking for in a head coach. He is knowledgeable, can teach and is great with parents and players. I am happy to promote him to the title of associate head coach. There is no question in my mind that Amir will run his own program in the near future. I think so much of him and his wife, Arianne.”

Wallace previously spent six years in administrative roles for Wojcik at Tulsa, three seasons as director of basketball operations and three seasons as director of player development and graduate manager.

“Joe is well-deserving of this opportunity,” Wojcik said. “He has done all of the little jobs that no one wants to do for a very long time. Joe was a major part of making our transition from Tulsa to Charleston smooth. He has been a rock for me. Joe is dependable and has a strong work ethic. CofC is a great situation for me to be able to move him up from the director of operations role to full-time assistant coach. Joe has the skill set to be a great recruiter and on-floor coach. I know our players really like him and player relationships are very important. Joe continues to add consistency to our coaching staff as we move into our second year. He and his wife, Cory, have been a big asset to our basketball family, community and program for the last seven years.”